Bastian Rapp

Researchers have developed a glass composite that could be used in fabricating intricate objects. “Glassomer,” a material made of a polymer and quartz, could be useful in a wide variety of industrial applications.

Two new papers, one published in Nature and one in Advanced Materials, describe 3-D printing techniques that use silica nanoparticle inks—rather than molten glass itself—to to fabricate optically clear glass components with micrometer-scale resolution, a huge leap forward for the integration of glass materials into additive manufacturing.